Loss of allies
Iran: Assad did not ask for support
Loss of allies
December 9,2024,4:39 am
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Hezbollah is greatly weakened,the Assad regime has been overthrown – Iran has lost its most important allies against Israel. Tehran wants to reduce this defeat.
Iran claims that the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad will not stop resistance to Israel. “The change of power in Syria may affect the further course of the resistance against the Zionist regime (Israel) in the short term, but it will certainly not be stopped,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs abbas araghchi. The resistance against Israel is an “ideological mission and not a classic war” and will therefore continue, Iran’s top diplomat said in an interview with state broadcaster Irib.
But he acknowledged that Assad and the Syrian goverment were critically important strategic allies in the resistance against Iran’s old enemy, Israel. According to Araghchi, Tehran was expecting a long-term civil war in Syria, but there was no such rapid upheaval. Assad did not turn to his allies during the attacks of the Islamic communities, Araghchi said. “We were never asked for help.” The Syrian army was tasked with repelling Islamist attacks.
Tehran has supported Assad for years in the Syrian civil war, including with military advisers. The Syrian government was the only state ally within the Iranian-led resistance. Syria was also a supply route for Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. According to observers in Tehran, the change of power in Damascus has significantly weakened Iran’s anti-Israel doctrine.
Araghchi himself was on a diplomatic mission until Saturday. he wanted to convince neighboring Arab countries to continue supporting the Assad government to fight the “terrorists” of the Islamist alliance Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).Though,his efforts were useless. For this reason, local critics called him “Abbas Sisyphus” on social media.